“Why does it bother you to talk about it?”

“It bothers everybody that works there”

“Where”

“Chinatown, everybody. To me, it was just bad luck”

“Why”

“You can’t always tell what’s going on – like with you” – Everlyn Murwray (Faye Dunaway) and Jake Gittes (Jack Nicholson)

Private Detective Jake Gittes is set up to tail the city’s head of Water and Power, and finds himself in a labyrinth of murder, incest and an L.A. water scandal.

MILESTONES OF THE JOURNEY

Many Noir tales show a detective uncovering crimes of passion and corruption. J.J. Gittes is our stoic detective, the impeccably dressed knight with a code of honor to serve justice. Gittes uncovers deeper and deeper layers of corruption, trying to undertand the meaning of the puzzle pieces, even trying to understand this corruption on his own terms. But Gittes must finally accept the futility of his attempts. This isn’t just a dark tale of incest or adultery. Gittes uncovers a corrupt city, a grand arena that gives the Shadow, Noah Cross, power beyond the Hero’s control.

Gittes is a Catalyst Hero, a common archetype in detective stories. The Catalyst Hero affects change in others while remaining unchanged. Chinatown is a wonderful character study of how Gittes makes his impact in this Special World, especially the various creative, bold and desperate methods he employs to get past the Threshold Guardians and Shapeshifters blocking the truth. But Gittes is a tragic catalst. His search for truth leads to the death of the one person he is trying to protect. And what is the truth? Ironically by Journey’s end, do we really know? That’s why it is called Chinatown.

THE JOURNEY

Los Angeles 1937. Jake Gittes is a private detective specializing in divorce work, “other people’s dirty laundry”, his ORDINARY WORLD. Made cynical by his ineffectiveness as a cop working Chinatown for the D.A. Gittes now wields his code of justice for the individual desperate for a little help.

Gittes meets Mrs. Mulwray, who wants to hire Gittes to follow her husban. She believes he’s having an affair. Gittes turns down this CALL TO ADVENTURE. He tries to convince Mrs. Mulwray “to let sleeping dogs lie” a REFUSAL. But when she mention that her husband is Hollis Mulwray, the chief engineer of the Department of Water and Power, Gittes realizes the potential money to be earned. He enters the THRESHOLD of the case, to find out if Hollis Mulwray is having an affair.

Although this establishes an OUTER PROBLEM, to solve the case and earn the money it is not the OUTER PROBLEM and SPECIAL WORLD of the story. That THRESHOLD will be crossed in time. For now, Jake begins his investigation entering a TEST PHASE where he follows Mulwray and stumbles acros a SUCCESSION OF CALLS in disguise. These CALLS also show us the desperate state of drought-stricken Los Angeles. If taken, these CALLS would unveil a larger problem in Jake’s and Los Angeles’ ORDINARY WORLDS.

• Gittes observes the City Council meeting, where Mulwray adamantly opposes a water bill to build a dam that would bring the city much needed water.
• A farmer interrupts the meeting with his herd of starved sheep. This HERALD accuses Mulwray of being bought off to denounce the water bill
• Gittes observes Mulwray examining a dry riverbed and speaking briefly with a Mexican boy.
• Gittes follows Mulwray to the beach where water mysteriously flows through the run-off channel
• Gittes’ assistant, Walsh, shows photos of Mulwray in a heated argument with Noah Cross (the SHADOW)

Gittes is unable to see the significance of these CALLS until he is well into the SPECIAL WORLD OF MURDER. For now, he does his job and finally takes the incriminating ictures of Mulwray with a beautiful young girl. The case is clsed. Mrs. Mulwray receives the photo proof of her husband’s indiscretion. Somehow the photos splash across the front page of the daily paper, creating a major candal and naming Gittes as the private investigator (a CALL TO ADVENTURE).

Gittes returns to his office where he confronts the real Evelyn Mulwray. Since she never hired Gittes, she threatens him with a lawsuit. Gittes doesn’t like to be set up, and his moral code (INNER MENTOR) pushes him through a THRESHOLD to find out what is behind it and why.

He launches a TEST PHASE and goes to Mulwray’s office. Mulwray’s out, so Gittes slips past the secretary (THRESHOLD GUARDIAN) and snoops around Mulwray’s office before Mulwray’s chief deputy, Yelburton (THRESHOLD GUARDIAN) escorts him out. At the elevators, Gittes sees Claude Mulvihill, a RIVAL ex-cop, now working for Yelburton.

Gittes goes to Mulwray’s house. Waiting for Mulwray, Gittes observes the groundskeeper replacing dead grass near the fishpond. Again, Gittes isn’t deep enough into the SPECIAL WORLD to comprehend the importance of this HERALD’S warning, Gittes spots something in the pond. Before he can retrieve it, he’s intterupted by Mrs. Mulwray, who directs Gittes to find her husband to the reservoir.

Gittes uses Yelburton’s card to pass the reservoir’s security guards (easily tricking these THRESHOLD GUARDIANS) and finds his old partner, Escobar dredging Mulwray’s body from the reservoir, completing the second stage of Gittes’ THRESHOLD.

THe TEST PHASE is renewed with the further complications of Mulwray’s death. Gittes tries to put together the pieces of the mystery and find the truth hidden by a series of SHAPESHIFTERS< THRESHOLD GUARDIANS and SHADOWS.

Gittes uses Yelburton’s card to pass the reservoir’s security guards (easily tricking these THRESHOLD GUARDIANS) and finds his old partner, Escobar, dredging Mulwray’s body from the reservoir, completing the second stage of Gittes’ THRESHOLD.

The TEST PHASE is renewed with the further complications of Mulwray’s death. Gittes tries to put together the pieces of the mystery and find the truth hidden by a series of SHAPESHIFTERS, THRESHOLD GUARDIANS and SHADOWS.

Gittes rescues SHAPESHIFTER Evelyn from Escobar’s interrogation. The police want to know about the mysterious young woman photographed with Mulwray. Evelyn lies, saying that she hired Gittes to get her husband’s affair in the open.

The Coroner (ALLY) shows Gittes the corpse of a town derelict who dropped mysteriously in the L.A. River in the middle of the drought. This CALL TO ADVENTURE makes Gittes backtrack, recalling Mulwray’s stops while Gittes was tailing himi.

Gittes returns to the dry riverbed and questions the Mexican boy. This THRESHOLD GUARDIAN willingly tells Gittes that he would report to Mulwary when the water arrived down the river.

At the reservoir, the scene of Mulwray’s death, Gittes almost drowns in a sudden release of fresh water through the run-off pipes. He confronts two THRESHOLD GUARDIANS, Mulvihill and a man with a Knife. They want Gittes out of this SPECIAL WORLD and slice his nose as a warning. Instead of pushing him away, this TEST pushes a dertermined GIttes to catch the big boys behind the water scandal.

Back at his office, Gittes receives a call from Ida Sessions, confessing her role as ‘Mrs Mulwray”- the imposter who first hired Gittes. The SHAPESHIFTER refuses to reveal those who employed her, but directs Gittes to find ‘one of those people’ in the obituary column.

Gittes has lunch with Evelyn Mulwray. Gittes knows this SHAPESHIFTER is hiding something. He’s able to find out that her maiden name is “Cross”. Desperate to get her to drop her SHAPESHIFTER mask and reveal her motives and loyalty, Gittes tells her that he suspects her husband was murdered for knowing that thousands of gallons of water were being dumped into the ocean.

Gittes returns to Mulwray’s office, and discovers that Noah Cross has co-owned the Water Department with Mulwray. Gittes accuses Yelburton of hiering Ida Sessions. ALthough offended by the accusations this THRESHOLD GUARDIAN confesses the water is being diverted to the northwest valley orange groves.

Evelyn Cross officially hires Gittes to find her husband’s murderer. She confesses that Cross is her father, and that Cross and Mulwray had a falling out after a dam had collapsed.

Gittes meets Noah Cross for lunch. This SHAPESHIFTER SHADOW hires Gittes to find the mysterious girl in the Mulwray pictures.

At the Hall of Records, Gittes discovers that land lots in the valley have been recently resold and he ‘borrows’ one of the pages.

Gittes visits an orange grove, and has a run-in with the farmer and his sons. The famers discounts Yelburton’s claims. The Water Department has been destroying their water not supplying it. These THRESHOLD GUARDIANS-turned-ALLIES fetch. Evelyn Mulwray to take the wounded Gittes away. Gittes figures out Ida Sessions clue, a REWARD. He finds a name in the obits that matches his list of new landholders from the Hall of Records. The man died two weeks ago, yet he bought the land only last week. The details of the obituary lead Gittes to a retiremment home.

Equipped with the clues accumulated over this TEST PHASE, Gittes APPROACHES THE INMOST CAVE. He and Evelyn trick the retirement home director, allowing them to meet the new land holders, all retirees unaware of the riches they possess. Gittes is soon escorted out, where he confronts Mulvihill, the ORDEAL. Gittes tricks the THRESHOLD GUARDIAN and barely escapes with his life, as Evelyn pulls up to the rescue and drives him away (a RESURRECTION).

Evelyn takes Gittes back to her home, where she cleans his wounds and they make love, a REWARD. Evelyn uses this moment to find out Gitte’s dark futile past in Chinatown. Granted new insight from his Journey’s APPROACH and ORDEAL, Gittes tells her his additional REWARD, he believes Evelyn’s father, Noah Cross, is behind her husband’s murder. Eveln leaves abruptly after receiving a mysterious phone call. Even after sharing the REWARD of love, GIttes can’t trust this SHAPESHIFTER. He follows her to a mysterious house, where Mulwray’s alleged lover is being held captive Gittes accuses Evelyn of killing her husband. Evelyn denies it, admitting that the girl is her sister.

He goes home alone to get some sleep. He receives a phone call that draws him to Ida Sessions’ house, where he discovers her murdered. Escobar and his cops have baited Gittes and they want answers. Gittes explains the water scandal but Escobar refuses to believe this ELIXIR.

Gittes returns to Evelyn’s house and finds everything packed up. Again, Gittes sees the gardener struggling with dead grass in the fishpond, and Gittes finally retrieves the object he saw before: a pair of broken glasses. Gittes returns to the mysterious safe house and confronts Evelyn with this REWARD. He holds the proof, Mulwray’s glasses, that Evelyn murderred her husband. He calls Escobar giving the police the adress to pick up Evelyn. Faced with this TICKING CLOCK, Evelyn finally abandons the SHAPESHIFTER mask and confesses that the mysterious woman, Katherine is both her sister and daughter, the outcome of her rape by her father. Evelyn’s Journey has been driven by her INNER NEED to protect Katherine from the SHADOW, Noah Cross. Gittes sends Evelyn and Katherine to Evelyn’s servant home in Chinatown, while he takes care of Escobar. Before they leave, Gittes shows Evelyn the broken bifocals; they are not her husband’s she tells him (completing the ROAD BACK).

Gittes keeps Escobar and his men busy, leading them on a wild goose chase. Gittes uses the home of a client, Curly (ALLY) to escape the cops. He enlists Curly to take Evelyn and Katherine to Mexico.

Gittes arranges a meeting with Noah Cross at Mulwray’s house. He tricks this SHADOW into admitting that the bifocals are his. The SHADOW presents his devious plan to ‘bring L.A. to the water”before his THRESHOLD GUARDIAN, Mulvihill, forces Gittes to give up the glasses. At gunpoint, Gitte takes them to Evelyn and Katherine.

Gittes’ Journey ends in the land of his greatest fear, Chinatown, a territory that symbolizes his ineffectiveness when he was a cop. He finds his associates in the custody of Escobar and his men. Escobar refuses to accept Gittes’ ELIXIR that Noah Cross murdered Mulwray. Evelyn appears with Katerine to make her escape. Cross wants Katerhine and Evelyn shoots him, only wounding the SHADOW. She drives off. Gittes tries to protect this RESURRECTION, but the cops shoot at the ar. It stops. The horn blaring. Kathering screams. And they find Evelyn dead.

Stunned, Gittes sees yet again the futility of his efforts in Chinatown. Mirroring his past, Gittes has tried to help someone, and that person is killed. The SHADOW, Noah Cross gets away with murder, and gets his daughter. Gittes tries to comprehend this DARK ELXIR “Forget it Jake, It’s Chinatown.”